Is this Negligence?

[caroljo]

This past week we had to have a new furnace installed which cost over 1800.00. Also, the whole one end of our house where our furnace is was in a "brown out" condition. We had an electrician come in to check it out. This same electrician had updated our electric to 200 amp in 1997. He explained that when they setup our service, they set it up on a temporary basis, the inspector comes out and approves it, then the inspector gets ahold of the energy co to set it up permanent. Well, the permanent set-up never happened, so we've gone over 3 yrs with our electric in a temporary set-up. That electrician wouldn't say for sure that because our electricity was so low that it would effect our furnace. But another Electrician said it definately would. We'd had no problem with our furnace, then 3 major parts of it went all at once at the same time our electricity was messed up. I don't know if the inspector never called the electric co, or if he did and the electric co just didn't do their part. So I'd like to know how to go about sueing for the cost of our furnace, and compensate for the 2 days we went without heat (we had to run a space heater and our stove to try to keep warm!)And I would like to know if I should get a lawyer or if this can go through small claims court.

 

[HomeGuru]

Have the more intelligent electrician fix all the electrical problems, then sue the first one for damages. Small claims is ok. Never use your cooking range for space heating. Do you open your freezer and refer doors as air conditioning during the summer months?

 

[JETX]

First things first... before you even consider taking legal action, you need to find out what happened and who, if anyone, dropped the ball.

In reading your post, it appears that you are blaming:
1) The original electrician who may or may not have notified the inspector.
2) The inspector who may or may not have notified the electric company.
3) The electric company who may or may not have set the account up permanently.
4) One electrician who can't, or isn't willing to, state that the possible low-current damaged your heater.
5) Another, later electrician who said it definitely would (Is he willing to put his 'opinion' in writing??? Is he willing to testify to his 'opinion'?? Is his 'opinion' worth anything?)
6) Or it could have been a defective heater unit.

With all these "maybe's and could be's", my question to you is: "Who are you considering taking action against???".
Only after you answer that question, can anyone advise whether you have a possible case or not.

Finally, you MIGHT be able to prevail on an action against SOMEONE for your actual damages (cost of heater repair), but you will probably not get 'compensation' for your having to use a space heater or the stove.

As for a lawyer or small claims...
Unless you have deep,deep pockets (or can find a very hungry lawyer), you will probably not find anyone who will take your case without some SUBSTANTIAL evidence of liabiity on SOMEONE's part. So, your question is answered... you will be on your own in Small Claims court.

 

[caroljo]

I wasn't looking to go after the electrician, he did his part. What I wanted to know is, if I find out if it was either the inspector or the Energy Co, how should I go about going after the one that's at fault? I didn't know if I could go to small claims court, or if I should. Or if I should talk to an attorney about it? I could probably get the one electrician to put in writing what he told me. We had NO problems with our furnace until this happened, and for 3 major things to go wrong with it the same time we had problems with our power, seems like more than a coincidence. And the one electrician agreed.